Tube end coater

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is provided for coating the ends of tubing. The tubing is placed in a turret structure that has on either end thereof adhesive-coated rotating application disks. As the turret with the tube rotates through 90*, the adhesive applying disks rotate along the planes of the ends of the tubing to coat the ends of the tubing with an adhesive.

States Patet [191 Greiner, Jr.

[451 Dec. 3, 1974 I TUBE END COATER [75] Inventor: William A. Greiner, Jr., Lancaster,

[73] Assignee: Armstrong Cork Company,

Lancaster, Pa.

[22] Filed: Dec. 22, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 317,665

[52] US. Cl 118/50, 118/216, 118/230,

[51] Int. Cl. B05c H02 [58] vField of Search 118/50, 230, 226, 241, 118/216 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,946,428 2/1934 Preston et al 118/226 X 2/1942 Von Sydow et al. 11'8/230 X 3/1970 Swaisgood 118/50 Primary Examiner-John P. McIntosh 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures TUBE END COATER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention herein is directed towards an adhesive coating structure and, more particularly, to an adhesive coating structure for applying adhesive to the ends of tubes.

2. Description of the Prior Art US. Pat. No. 2,952,239 discloses one form of coating apparatus for applying adhesive to the rims of a container. US. Pat. No. 2,388,911 is directed to another apparatus for providing a coating to the rim of a container. The rims of a container are comparable to the ends of a piece of tubing.

The invention herein is specifically directed towards the placing of a coating on the ends of a flexible tubing used as pipe insulation. To date, the prior art has not had available insulating tubing with adhesive applied to the ends thereof. Normally, the only way adhesive would be applied to the ends of the tubing would be to have a man paint the adhesive on the ends of the tubing at the job site just prior to the placing of two pieces of tubing together end-to-end.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The adhesive coating apparatus has two major parts; namely, a rotating turret structure and two adhesive disk structures for applying adhesive to the ends of a tube in the turret structure. The tube is dropped into a turret structure and held in position by a vacuum action. The turret rotates through a 90 angle and, during this time of rotation, the ends of the tube are coated. At the end of the 90 rotational movement of the tube,

, the vacuum is released, and the tube is removed from BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is an end view of the turret structure in position to receive a tube;

FIG. II is an end viewof the turret structure discharging a tube;

FIG. III is a side view of the turret structure and adhesive applying structures; and

FIG. IV is an end view of an adhesive applying disk.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The invention herein is specifically designed for coating the ends of tubes. The tubes in question are of foamed thermoplastic material and are utilized as an insulation for piping. The tubes are normally produced in 6-foot lengthsand may either be slid over the end of a pipe or may be slit along their longitudinal axis so that they may be snapped over a pipe. The tubes are normally supplied with an adhesive coating on the edges of the slit. This adhesive is activated by a solvent so that the slit may be sealed by fastening the two edges of the slit together with adhesive. To date, normally the ends of the tubing would be placed just in an abutting relationship and, sometimes, an adhesive would be applied to the ends to hold the two ends relative to each other. The apparatus herein is specifically designed for the purpose of providing a factory-applied adhesive coating to the ends of the tube so that, in the field, all that one needs to do is activate the adhesive by a solvent and place two ends in an abutting relationship to join them. together with the adhesive.

Referring now to the drawing, in FIG. I, there is shown an end view of the turret structure 2 which is utilized to carry the tube through the coating apparatus. The turret structure is basically a cross-shaped apparatus having four tubeholding positions 4. At the base of the tube-holding position, which is at the junction of two legs of the cross, there are provided vacuum ports connected to an appropriate vacuum source. Consequently, when a tube 8 is in position, as shown in FIG. I, it will be held in position by the vacuum on the one side of the tube and atmospheric pressure acting on the other side of the tube to restrain the tube in position.

The tube is initially conveyed to the turret structure by a conveyor structure 10 having appropriate drive structure 12. When the tube is in position to be placed in the turret, a pusher mechanism 14 actuates a lever 16 to push the tube off the conveyor 10 into one of the holding positions 4 of the turret 2. The pusher structure could be operated as simply a sequentially timed apparatus or could be operated by a contact switch which is engaged by the end of the tubing as it arrives in position. Any convenient means may be utilized by those skilled in the art to actuate the pusher at the proper time to push the tube 8 off the conveyor 10 towards the turret 2 so that the tube will roll into position at one of the holding positions 4. As the turret rotates in a counterclockwise direction from the position shown in FIG.

I through a are, a vacuum is maintained to hold the.

tube in position. Once the turret passes beyond the initial 90 arc, the vacuum is broken and,-as shown in FIG. II, the tube may roll off the turret and be discharged. Consequently, it is obvious that the vacuum is maintained in the turret holding positions only during the 90 rotational movement of the turret through the upper portion of its total rotational path of movement.

Referring now to FIG. III, there is shown the turret 2 with a tube 8 in position. The turret has moved through approximately 45 of its initial 90 rotational path of movement. The tube 8 is being held in position by the vacuum action of the turret. In FIG. III, there is shown the adhesive-coating structures.

The adhesive-coating structures are basically two adhesive disks l8 and 20. Each adhesive disk is mounted on an adhesive head structure 22 and 24. A drive shaft 26 will slowly rotate the turret 2 in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIG. I. The drive shaft 26 also passes through both adhesive heads 22 and 24. A spline is provided in the adhesive head structure, and the spline engages the drive shaft 26. This will permit the adhesive heads not only to rotate with shaft 26, but also to move longitudinally axially along the drive shaft 26.

The drive shaft 26 has on one end thereof a rather large drive gear 28. This drive gear 28 meshes with a smaller drive gear 30 which is connected to a drive and cam shaft 32. On the drive and cam shaft 32, there are positioned two cams 34 and 36. The drive and cam shaft 32 is connected to an appropriate power source. It will be noted that the cams 34 and 36 have cam grooves 38 and 40 which receive therein cam followers 42 and 44 which are connected to the adhesive heads 22 and 24.

In operation, an appropriate drive source will cause rotation of the drive and cam shaft 32. This will in turn cause rotation of the cams 34 and 36. The cam grooves 38 and 40 are so shaped in the cams that they will cause the cam followers 42 and 44 to reciprocate backward and forward in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the cam and drive shaft. This in turn will cause a reciprocating motion to the adhesive heads 22 and 24. Gear 30 on the drive and cam shaft 32 will drive larger gear 28, which in turn will cause rotation of drive shaft 26. Rotation of drive shaft 26 will cause rotational movement of adhesive heads 22 and 24 and turret 2.

As was indicated above, on adhesive heads 22 and 24 there are positioned adhesive disks l8 and 20. On the face of the disks, there is placed adhesive, and the disks rotate in the planes of, or in planes parallel to, the planes of the ends of the tube 8. As was indicated above, the turret is caused to rotate through a 90 path of movement, during which time vacuum is held in one of the tube-holding positions 4. During this 90 rotational movement of the turret, the following sequence will occur due to the sizes of gears 28 and 30 and the operation and shape of cam grooves 38 and 40. The drive and cam shaft 32 will make one complete revolution for the 90 rotational movement of the-turret. During the first half of this one revolution of the drive and cam shaft 32, both adhesive heads 22 and 24 will be moved to the left, as viewing FIG. III. This will result in adhesive disk 18 engaging the end 46 of tube 8. Since rotational movement of shaft 32 will result in rotation of shaft 26 due to gears 28 and 30, the adhesive disk 18 will be rotating as the drive and cam shaft 32 is rotating. As adhesive head 22 moves to the left and engages the end 46 of the tube 8, the adhesive disk will engage the end 46 of the tub'e and apply adhesive thereto. During the second half of the one full revolution of rotation of drive and cam shaft 32, the adhesive heads 22 and 24 will be moved back to the right, and at this time, adhesive disk 20 will contact the end 48 of tube 8 and apply a coating thereto in the same manner that adhesive disk 18 functioned. At the time of completion of the first full revolution of the drive and cam shaft 32, the adhesive heads would then be in the positions shown in FIG. III. At this time, the first 90 rotational movement of the turret will have been completed, the vacuum will be released on the tube 8, the tube 8 will drop out of position from the turret. It is obvious that at this point a second tube 8 has been dropped into the following tube-holding position 4 and will be held in position there during the next 90 rotational movement of the turret. At this time, the adhesive disks 18 and 20 will apply adhesive to the ends of the next following tube 8.

FIG. IV is an end view of the adhesive coater showing the manner in which adhesive is placed on the adhesive disk 18. Adhesive is pumped to a dispensing head 50, which has a length approximately equal to that of the radius of the disk. The disk 18 will rotate in a counterclockwise direction. The dispensing structure 50 will release the adhesive near the center of the disk, and the surplus adhesive is permitted to run down the disk along the applicator 50 and drop into a drip pan 52. The applicator 50 is positioned very closely to the disk 18 and functions as a doctor to provide a uniform coating of adhesive along most of the surface of the disk 18. Some surplus adhesive 54 will build up along the back side of the applicator 50,and this will gradually be wiped across the face of the disk 18. Fresh adhesive is constantly provided from the portion of the applicator 50 nearest the center of the disk. There is thus provided a structure which will wipe and meter on the rotating disk a uniform film of adhesive. The disk then applies this adhesive to an end of the tube 8.

What is claimed is:

1. An adhesive-coating apparatus composed of a turret structure having a tube receiving means and a vacuum retaining means which will fixedly hold a tube in position within the turret structure, said turret structure being rotated through approximately a 90 arc path of movement, at which time adhesive will coat the ends of the tube, adhesive disks being positioned adjacent each end of the tube within the turret, said adhesive disks having planar surfaces with adhesive thereon, each said planar surface moving from a plane containing one end of the tube to a plane parallel to the plane containing one end of the tube, normally the adhesive disk being spaced from the end of the tube, appropriate drive means being connected to the adhesive disks to cause the adhesive disks to sequentially move into the planes containing the ends of the tube whereby the adhesive disks will apply adhesive first to one end of the tube and then to the other end of the tube when the plane of each adhesive disk is in a plane of the end of the tube.

2. An adhesive-coating apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein a drive means is provided to drive the turret structure and the adhesive disks, said drive structure including cam means causing reciprocating movement of the adhesive disks in a time sequence relative to rotational movement of the turret. 

1. An adhesive-coating apparatus composed of a turret structure having a tube receiving means and a vacuum retaining means which will fixedly hold a tube in position within the turret structure, said turret structure being rotated through approximately a 90* arc Path of movement, at which time adhesive will coat the ends of the tube, adhesive disks being positioned adjacent each end of the tube within the turret, said adhesive disks having planar surfaces with adhesive thereon, each said planar surface moving from a plane containing one end of the tube to a plane parallel to the plane containing one end of the tube, normally the adhesive disk being spaced from the end of the tube, appropriate drive means being connected to the adhesive disks to cause the adhesive disks to sequentially move into the planes containing the ends of the tube whereby the adhesive disks will apply adhesive first to one end of the tube and then to the other end of the tube when the plane of each adhesive disk is in a plane of the end of the tube.
 2. An adhesive-coating apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein a drive means is provided to drive the turret structure and the adhesive disks, said drive structure including cam means causing reciprocating movement of the adhesive disks in a time sequence relative to rotational movement of the turret. 